Corsairs Walk Plank
Pieces Of Eight
A revival of Martinsson's touch helped Grilled to the fourth round of the Cup, as he got a hat-trick to take his season tally into double digits already. The Corsairs earned their way against Jello through a Xi Myung-Suk goal, but would be ultimately doomed before the whistle with less than convincing defending. An 8-0 thrashing in the league by Jurong Ethiopia was sound proof.
Spirig relished being rotated into the middle, and showed his gratitude with a calm goal in the sixth minute, after Abd Hamid bypassed the entire home backline with a deliberate through ball. Borup, playing right flank, wowed the crowd with a highly technical overhead kick a minute later that sadly carommed off the post.
Martinsson then took over, and poached the second as Ng Yong-Zhan attempted to deflect a ball with his chest back to his goalie. The ball bounced less than he anticipated, and just as Martinsson hoped. Another goal came from a direct free-kick, as Martinsson topped his effort during the Geylang Traders game with a masterpiece that breached the Corsairs' three-man wall and rippled the net.
Borup then had a horrible miss as Paullin did very well to lash an arcing cross over the heads of the assembled defenders. 17 year-old
Bukhari Abd Hamid then badly mistimed a tackle, leading to a yellow for his first foul, and indirectly to Spirig catching his foot on the turf as he tried to block the resulting free-kick.
Martinsson finished his hat-trick in good time, as Borup slipped a breaking ball in behind Le Hou for the Swede to run on to. Hjortlind was also on hand to clear up any rebounds, but Martinsson didn't need any help as he sent the ball in at the near post.
The Corsairs' top performer, the 1.9m tall ex-stocktaker Cui Bi-shiou, then claimed a spectacular goal as he climbed above
Lee Jie Siong some way outside the six-yard box, and powered a solid downwards header unopposed. Bao-Tam was caught out by the early bounce, and could only flail about as Bi-Shiou celebrated a landmark goal - his first in the Cup.
It would be his last for this season, as Grilled still controlled the game with a three goal advantage. Martinsson's competitiveness got ahead of him in the 77th minute, as he executed a typical forward's challenge on Luo Lai-Hong. He knew it was bad as the 35 year-old striker crumpled up on the ground, and accepted his booking with grace.
Ji Dan-Dan replaced Luo, but made little impact on the match. Bona scrambled in a fifth within minutes, and
Dani Spirig capped probably his first Man of the Match performance with a crowd-pleasing airborne kick in the 88th minute.
